


Irene

by katieh28



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Bromance, Derek is a Good Friend, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Spencer tries oh so very hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-25 18:38:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7543591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katieh28/pseuds/katieh28
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was just supposed to be a routine witness interview. Spencer never expected any of this, not even a little. Never in a million years did he think he'd be so flustered by a woman like this, so completely and utterly unable to get her out of his head. Spencer wanted to call her back, maybe, but he wasn't even sure how, and shouldn't he really be focusing on the case?<br/>Basically, Reid is a lovesick mess, but luckily Derek Morgan is here to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Irene

"'Morning, Reid," Morgan said jovially as he walked by Spencer's desk. With a friendly smirk, he slid a mug of black coffee across the surface of Reid's desk, careful not to spill it on his paperwork.  

Reid just raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Um...thank you," he muttered. "But...since when do you bring me coffee?" 

Morgan just shrugged. "You looked like you could use it, kid." 

"Gee, thanks," Spencer said sarcastically. 

"Really, though. Did you sleep at all last night?" 

"Not really, to be honest," Reid said, adjusting his glasses. "I've just been going over this case again and again in my mind...It doesn't make any sense. The unsub, I mean. I just- I can't figure out a motive-" 

"None of us can, Reid," Morgan said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself." 

"Yeah, well, you're not the one with an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory. I don't have an excuse not to get this." 

Derek just gave him a look, and Reid sighed, running a hand through his hair. 

"I'm sorry," he said after a moment. "It's just...this is bothering me. More than most cases. I don't know why- but it is." 

Morgan nodded. "I get that. This one's- this one's just brutal. Not that they aren't all brutal." 

"I know," Spencer said, giving Morgan a smile that was meant to be reassuring. "And- thanks. For this. I'll try to get some sleep tonight." 

"Any time, kid." 

Just then, Rossi and Hotch walked quickly into the room, practically sprinting by the time they got to Spencer's desk. 

"We've got a witness," Hotch said, barely stopping to catch his breath. 

"We already talked to the man who called 911-" Reid began. 

"Apparently his sister was there with him when he called. She heard the screaming and said she got a glimpse of our killer just as he was taking off. I don't know if she can tell us much, but at least it will be a start." 

"Alright, want me to do the honors?" Morgan asked. 

"Actually, Morgan, we thought Reid might want to take this one," Rossi said. 

Reid raised his eyebrows curiously. "Any particular reason?" 

Rossi smirked to himself. "She's an MIT graduate currently working on her PhD in Applied Physics with a specialization in astronomy, and she's fluent in seven languages including Arabic, Dutch and Russian," he said. "And that's just we got from the first 5 minutes of talking to her." 

Morgan couldn't help but smile. "Well, boy genius, I guess it's time to meet girl genius." 

Spencer scowled. "Well, a degree from MIT doesn't exactly qualify someone as a genius," he said, pouting slightly. "To qualify as a genius she would need to score  _at least_ in the 98th percentile on a standard IQ test. So we really don't _know_ if she's a genius, do we?" 

Morgan couldn't help but laugh. "Do I detect some jealousy, Pretty Boy?" 

"No!" Reid said a little too quickly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I just don't think it's fair to assume that she's a genius based solely on the fact that she attended an elite institution." 

"Okay, okay," Morgan said, still unable to hide his amusement. "Why don't you go and talk to her so you can see for yourself?" 

"I think I will," Reid said haughtily before storming off towards the interrogation room, leaving Rossi, Hotch and Morgan behind to laugh at him. 

Reid walked towards the interrogation room, stopping just short of the door. For some reason, he felt compelled to take a look at this mystery woman, this 'genius'. 

The woman, objectively, was attractive. One might consider her beautiful, he noted. The 'genius' had bright red curly hair and skin even whiter than his own, as well as a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She was tall and thin, he noticed, glancing at her long legs, her feet tapping impatiently under the table. 

She would look nice in glasses, Spencer thought. 

Spencer knew he should have slapped himself right then and there. What was he? A criminal profiler with the BAU, or some kind of neanderthalic slave to his sexual urges? This woman, however, affected him. Even from behind the glass, she affected him. Not that he hadn't found the occasional woman attractive here and there. The women he found attractive came few and far between, however, and Spencer realized that the number of women he had found beautiful he could probably count on one hand. 

This woman...she pulled him in, magnetized him to her in a way no other person ever had before. 

Suddenly, he had a thirst for information. 

He would know more about her. He had to. 

Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Reid burst in through the door to the interrogation room. 

The woman looked up at him then, wide green eyes scanning his face curiously, and Reid felt his mouth go dry. 

"Hi- I - um," he stuttered hopelessly. "I'm...uh- I'm Doctor Spencer Reid, criminal profiler for the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. It's very- very nice to meet you." 

The woman smiled kindly, sticking out her palm for a handshake. "I'm Irene Westfield. Nice to meet you, too." 

Reid just smiled at her awkwardly, wanting desperately to shake her hand but completely and utterly unable to. 

He knew he should say something...he had to- he needed to snap out of it. He had to say something, anything. 

"Irene. Just like Irene Joliot-Curie," Spencer said awkwardly. 

"Who?" Irene asked, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. 

"Irene Joliot-Curie," Spencer said, feeling a little bit of his confidence return to him. Facts, statistics...that was his domain. His realm, his world. For now, at least, he was back in control. "Daughter of the 18th Century polish chemist and first female Nobel prize winner Marie Curie. Irene herself was able to follow in her mother's footsteps after winning the nobel prize back in 1935, after her and her husband Frederic Joliot were recognized for their synthesis of new radioactive elements, which has been summarized in their joint paper  _Production artificielle d'éléments radioactifs-"_

"-her areas of expertise being radioactivity, transmutation of elements, and nuclear physics," Irene said with a smirk. 

Spencer smiled shyly, forcing himself to meet her eyes. "You already knew who Irene Curie was." 

Irene grinned, and Spencer noted that her teeth were incredibly white. They almost seemed to sparkle under the iridescent light in the room. "Guilty as charged." 

"But why would you-" 

"I wanted to see if you were as smart as they said you were," she said. "Sounds like you are." 

Spencer may have blushed, possibly. "I don't believe intelligence can be quantified..." 

"Don't be so humble, Dr.Reid," Irene said, her green eyes focused on Spencer's. "Your friend tells me your pretty much a genius." 

"You talked to Agent Morgan, I presume?" 

"Yeah, the big muscular one. I think he said his name was Derek?" 

Reid laughed to himself, smiling at the ground. "That's Morgan, alright. He likes to pick on me." 

"Yeah, well, that's what friends are for, right?" 

She smiled at him then, a big, genuine smile, and Reid felt something deep in the core of his being light up. It was like a switch had been turned on inside of him, and suddenly he was super-charged, he was on fire. 

His cheeks burned, and his insides burned, and he wasn't even doing his job. He took a deep breath through his nose and closed his eyes, telling himself to refocus. Focus. He had a case to solve. He could do this. He was Spencer Reid. He had 3 PhDs and an IQ of 187. He could do this. 

"Right," Spencer said, forcing himself not to look directly at her. It was like looking directly into the sun, and it was something he just could not do. "Now, if it's alright I'd like to ask you a few questions about what you saw the night that Angela Murphy was murdered."

"Okay," she said, straightening up a little in her seat. 

"Now, you told us you were able to get a quick look at the perpetrator." 

"Yeah, I saw him, but I only caught a glimpse of him as he was running away," she said, getting a far off look in her eye. 

"Were there any noticeable details about his physical appearance, anything that could set him apart-" 

"He was tall, extremely tall," Irene said, picking at her thumbnail. "He had very dark skin, and he was thin. That's all I could see from where I was. I wish I had gotten a look at his face-" 

"It's alright, what you've just told us will certainly help point us in the right direction," Spencer said. 

"I hope you catch this guy," she said slowly, quietly. "When I think about what he did to that poor girl..." 

"I know," Spencer said. In that moment, he found himself struggling to fight the urge to reach out and put a hand on her shoulder. To comfort her. To  _touch_ her. It was a new feeling, and it was odd. But not unpleasant. This wanting...

"Is there anything else I could help you with?" Irene asked. 

"For now, I think you've done plenty," Reid said. "We'll be sure to call you if any new details arise that we could use your help with." 

"Alright. How about I give you my phone number?" 

Spencer took in a deep breath. "Well, uh- of course. Of course, yes, if you find anything helpful to the investigation, or you remember some other detail about the unsub- of course. Yes, that's a good idea." 

Irene just smiled to herself as she handed Spencer a small piece of paper with her name and number on it. "I should probably have your number too, right?" 

For a second time, Spencer found himself blushing. "Well, if you look at our website you can find the main number for the hotline of our Quantico branch-" 

"I was thinking more like... _your_ number." 

"Oh," Spencer said, eyes going wide. "Uh...any particular reason, Ms. Westfield?" 

"No, no particular reason," Irene said innocently. "I just think that if I found something, anything, I'd want to talk directly to you." 

Spencer laughed a little to himself. "You- you'd want to talk to me?" 

"Yeah, of course," Irene said. "I like you, Spencer. I just think...if anyone is going to catch this guy, it's going to be you." 

"Wow," Spencer said. "Wow. I wasn't quite expecting that." 

"You're surprised?" 

"Well, it's just...most of the time, when people come in here they prefer to talk to JJ or Morgan or Emily," he admitted. "I've been told that I tend to make people a bit uncomfortable."

"I'm not uncomfortable," she replied simply. 

"Well, I've been told some people find me a bit of an acquired taste." 

Irene met his eyes then, and he was forced to lock eyes with the brilliant green ones that stared back at him. 

"Maybe that's what some people like about you," she said, green eyes trained on his with laser focus. 

And with that, Reid lost any previous semblance of 'cool' he had before. He could feel his calm, his confidence oozing out of him as Irene kept looking at him. It dawned on him suddenly that he forgot to use mouthwash this morning. Stupid, stupid. He had barely had time to comb his hair, either. He must look entirely unprofessional. 

"How about you text me your number later?" Irene asked, apparently noting the fact that Spencer was entirely incapable of rational speech at the moment. 

"Oh, um- yes! That sounds- good. Great," Spencer replied. "Let me, um- walk you to the door."

"It's alright," she said warmly. "I know you have a lot of work to do here. So I guess I'll be hearing from you?"

"What? Oh, yes, definitely," Spencer stuttered. "Yes, as soon as I'm able to- well, as soon as- yes, I'll be contacting you shortly." 

"I'll be waiting, Dr.Reid," she said as she turned to walk away. Just before she left, standing in the doorway, she sent Reid a look that sent a chill like lightning through his heart. " _Spencer."_

Spencer took a deep breath, regrouping, taking a moment to allow his rapid heartbeat to slow down. 

He didn't know what he was feeling exactly, but he was feeling  _something,_ and that feeling was strong and strange and altogether quite incredible. 

When his heart rate finally went down to a normal and steady 72 beats per minute, Spencer left the interrogation room. When he walked to his desk, he wasn't entirely shocked to find Morgan and Garcia hovering over him, wide eyed and endearingly annoying as always. 

"Oh, kid," Derek said, shaking his head and laughing. "You got it bad, don't you?" 

"I don't understand what you mean-" 

"Oh, honey," Garcia said, unable to hold back a grin. "It's written all over your face." 

"Is this another one of your pranks? Because I really have no clue what you mean." Reid asked. 

Morgan raised his eyebrows. "Really? You don't even have a guess, Einstein?" 

"I don't." 

"She's got the hots for you, kid," Morgan said, obviously quite amused by the whole thing. 

"Did you see the way she was looking at him?" Garcia shrieked excitedly. "And the way he was looking at her!" 

"I don't know what your talking about," Spencer insisted. "I was simply questioning a witness. Nothing more to it." 

"You keep telling yourself that, Reid." 

"I will keep telling myself that, because it's the truth." 

"Okay, Spence. Whatever you say." 

Derek raised his hands to signal defeat, quietly walking away from Spencer's desk and sitting down at his own. Garcia followed him like always, unable to keep her eyes off of him- like always. 

Spencer sat at his desk and picked up a case file, leafing through information, willing himself to concentrate on something else. He picked up the file for a Westside serial killer and rapist, whose modus operandi generally consisted of stabbing his victims precisely 18 times in the shape of a heart and then slashing their throat.The unsub was most likely male, in his mid thirties to early forties, with some type of childhood issues regarding his mother and- 

He couldn't do it.

Spencer Reid, the resident Quantico genius, couldn't concentrate.

Sighing in frustration, he slammed the case file shut and pushed it to the corner of his desk, knocking most of his other papers off the desk in the process. 

"You okay over there, Reid?" Morgan asked, eyeing the cascade of paperwork falling to the ground. 

"I'm fine," Spencer muttered. 

"Okay," Morgan said. 

Reid bit his lip. 

"I do have a question," he blurted out. 

"Ask away," Morgan replied. 

"You said- you said you noticed the way she looked at me." 

Morgan smirked, almost an evil grin. "I did, yeah. Is there something you wanna ask me, kid?" 

Reid hated that smirk sometimes. It irked him. Derek thought he was so...so... _Derek._ So  _cool._

"No, no," he snapped. "Never mind. I'm going home. Goodnight." 

Reid slung his messenger bag over his shoulder and began to head for the exit. He needed to go home and really clear his head, which was something he just couldn't do here. 

"Reid," Morgan called out, just as Spencer was walking out the door. 

"Yes?" 

"Call her," he said, a knowing smirk on his face. 

"Okay, but what if-" 

"Hey," Morgan said, cutting him off mid-sentence. "Don't over-think it. I know that's nearly impossible for you, boy genius, but you gotta try. Just, for once in your life-don't think, okay? Just do it." 

"But what if I-" 

"Hey," Morgan said, a playful smile on his face. "You got this, okay? I don't call you pretty boy for nothing." 

Spencer just nodded feverishly, embarrassment over his old nickname coming over him. 

"Okay," he replied. "I'll call her." 

"You better." 

"I will," he said. "And...Derek?" 

"Yeah, Reid?" 

"...Thank you." 

Morgan just smiled. "Anytime, man," he said kindly. "Now go get her, kid." 

And just like that, Reid was absolutely certain that he would. 

He didn't even have to think about it this time. 

This time, he just knew. 

 


End file.
